Café con aroma de mujer ("Coffee, with the scent of a woman") was a 1994 Colombian telenovela, produced by then programming company RCN TV on state-owned Canal A. It is probably one of the most popular telenovelas on Colombian television.[1] It was written and created by Fernando Gaitán.This telenovela was sold to 24 countries around the world.
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This telenovela marked a difference in Latin American telenovelas and the way they were created. The story involved both typical and modern parts of Colombia, taking place in the heart of Colombian coffee plantations and in an important coffee export company.[2]
Café con aroma de mujer is about Gaviota (Margarita Rosa de Francisco), a woman who works as a harvester on a plantation and Sebastian Vallejo (Guy Ecker), the grandson of a powerful coffee businessman. When the two meet in a coffee plantation, they begin a passionate affair. Their first encounter end with them having sex for the first time in a coffee plantation and without knowing Sebastian leaves her pregnant and travel to London next morning to continue his studies. However they made a promise, they would meet each other the next year on October (time of the new coffee harvest). But as soon as Sebastian is away in Europe Gaviota finds out she's pregnant. She, then enrolles in a so-called Model Agency with the idea of traveling to Europe and finding Sebastian. But she's fooled by the man who is secretly running an agency of prostitution and human trafficking. Eventually, Sebastian marries another woman. Gaviota decides to enter the mainly male-dominated coffee business empire. She succeeds as the first woman to work in this area. When Gaviota and Sebastian meet again, they find that their passion for each other never died.
The show is especially famed for showing a panoramic and authentic view of the culture of Colombian coffee growers and the traditional heartland of Colombia's coffee-growing highlands.
In a short time, Café, con aroma de mujer became popular among audiences of all ages and genders, to the point that anecdotes are popularly told about how the whole country would "come to a standstill" when the show came on the air on weeknights at 20:00. Interestingly, its competition on Canal Uno was Las aguas mansas, produced by RTI Colombia, which would be remade in 2003 as the successful Pasión de gavilanes.
The main actress, Margarita Rosa de Francisco, already popular for her roles in Gallito Ramirez (1986) and Los Pecados de Inés de Hinojosa (1988) and for being a former Miss Colombia (second place in Miss World 1985), gave life to "Gaviota", one of the most popular characters in Colombian television and Margarita's most important work. The story concerns a woman who works as a harvester on a plantation, who falls in love with the son of the plantation owner. The show is especially famed for showing a panoramic and authentic view of the culture of Eje cafetero, the traditional heartland of Colombia's coffee-growing highlands.
Sings Margarita Rosa de Francisco
An article in Variety reported that the success of Yo soy Betty, la fea spin-offs has led to the search for other telenovelas being planned for the United States.[2] While some characters remain and new ones have been added, I think that the U.S. version preserves the spirit of the original 'Betty la fea,' Gaitán says.[2]
Cafe con Aroma de Mujer was remade in Mexico twice. First TV Azteca produced Cuando seas mía in 2001, starring Silvia Navarro and Sergio Basañez as 'Paloma' and 'Diego'. Televisa produced Destilando Amor in 2007, changing coffee for tequila.[2][3]
There are no plans to release the novela on DVD. There are however bootleg copies of the novela on DVD.